What is TCPA?

The TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act) is a U.S. federal law that regulates telemarketing calls, text messages, and the use of automated dialing systems, primarily to protect consumers from unwanted contact. In practice it means you generally need prior consent to send marketing texts or place certain automated calls, you must honor opt-out requests promptly, and you must respect calling-hour restrictions.

Violations carry statutory damages per message or call, which can add up fast at outbound scale, so TCPA compliance isn't optional for any serious voice or SMS program. Key obligations include maintaining consent records, scrubbing against do-not-call lists, and stopping contact when someone opts out.

This is why compliance tooling — consent management, automatic opt-out handling, and quiet-hours enforcement — is built into responsible outbound platforms rather than left to reps to remember.